NGD: Epiphone Snow Falcon

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caldurham
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NGD: Epiphone Snow Falcon

Post by caldurham » Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:28 am

Got this Epiphone LE Brendon Small Snow Falcon today. Obviously it's one of Brendon Small's sig guitars. i am not really a fan but i like the guitar.
Gibson had a Snow Falcon around 2012 or 2013, i can't recall which year it was atm. When it first came out i couldn't stand it and thought it was ugly. But then they started to grow on me and then i wanted one.
by the time i wanted one though Gibson no longer made them. they only made around 500 i think. i started looking for used ones about a year after they were discontinued. but every single one i found had the same problem, the white was starting to yellow. some were worse than others. i had hoped to find one without that issue. but either the people who didn't have finish issues weren't selling them or every one of them had the issue. i am not sure. dunno if it was a problem with the nitro itself or something else.

anyways in 2016 epiphone came out with their Snow Falcon. it uses the same gibson burstbuckers, type 1 for the neck, type 2 for the bridge. it also has a coil tap pot and a kill pot which the gibson version did not have. it's a poly finish and not nitro. and has the same phenolic fingerboard. i wonder if it's actually a wood fingerboard covered with phenolic resin or if the whole fingerboard is phenolic. it's snow white with a silver burst and has cream binding on the body and neck. and obviously it's not made in america like the gibsons were.

i waited a long time to order one. and when i finally did order it last month they were on backorder. but they had dropped in price to around $600. used ones on ebay and reverb are going for more than that. everywhere else they were no longer available new. well the day came and went when the backorder was supposed to be filled. and then they listed them as no longer available. so i figured i had just missed my chance. but last week they sent me an email saying my backorder had shipped and billed me. they must have had one final shipment or something. i dunno but i am lucky to have gotten one of the last ones available.

i got it today and have been playing it for a few hours now. sometime this week i'm going to change strings to the gauge i use and probably tune it to d standard and set it up. it plays great and the fingerboard feels wonderful. not how i thought it would feel at all. the kill pot is fun to play with. and with the coil tap you can get a lot of tones form this thing.

this makes the 4th epiphone flying v that i have now. not sure how many of these they made but it comes with a hand signed certificate. signed by brendon small and jim rosenberg the epiphone president.

in pictures the silver burst looks more like a hard line almost. but in person it's a more subtle blend from silver to white. one of the pics i have shows this fairly well.

i am not sure if i like the pickups yet. though they do sound good in single coil mode. i may end up selling them. i am fairly certain i could get around $250 - $275 for a white burstbucker set. maybe even a little more. but i'll wait a while before i decide. they may grow on me.

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afjungemann
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Re: NGD: Epiphone Snow Falcon

Post by afjungemann » Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:41 am

caldurham wrote:
Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:28 am
every single one i found had the same problem, the white was starting to yellow
It is probably just splitting hairs but a nitro finish yellowing isn't necessarily a problem but a characteristic. All Gibsons yellow with time, it just depends on the conditions it lives in.

Congrats on the new guitar! Looks like fun.
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caldurham
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Re: NGD: Epiphone Snow Falcon

Post by caldurham » Thu Jul 18, 2019 4:14 am

thanks and so far it is fun. better than expected. i am really enjoying the killpot.

i'm fairly familiar with nitro yellowing with time. but what i am talking about is not consistent with the nitro yellowing i'm used to seeing that takes place with age. the yellowing is splotchy on a lot of them and not consistent with normal nitro yellowing.

and every one of them that i saw were only a year old when i first started looking. a lot of them were being sold because of that problem. and you could actually have gotten a good deal on them at the time on the used market because of it.

you can find loads of older white nitro'd les pauls or other gibsons that do not have the problem that the gibson snow falcons do. granted you will also find some older white nitro'd les pauls and others gibsons that are yellowed or are yellowing. but i am more inclined to think maybe it was just a bad run of nitro or something along those lines for that year, that specific guitar. like i said every one i have seen whether in person or online has that problem.
dunno if you watch trogly's guitar show but he has several episodes with gibson snow falcons where he talks about the finish issues and the used prices they were going for because of those issues about a year after they were made.

afjungemann
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Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:17 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: NGD: Epiphone Snow Falcon

Post by afjungemann » Thu Jul 18, 2019 4:01 pm

caldurham wrote:
Thu Jul 18, 2019 4:14 am
thanks and so far it is fun. better than expected. i am really enjoying the killpot.

i'm fairly familiar with nitro yellowing with time. but what i am talking about is not consistent with the nitro yellowing i'm used to seeing that takes place with age. the yellowing is splotchy on a lot of them and not consistent with normal nitro yellowing.

and every one of them that i saw were only a year old when i first started looking. a lot of them were being sold because of that problem. and you could actually have gotten a good deal on them at the time on the used market because of it.

you can find loads of older white nitro'd les pauls or other gibsons that do not have the problem that the gibson snow falcons do. granted you will also find some older white nitro'd les pauls and others gibsons that are yellowed or are yellowing. but i am more inclined to think maybe it was just a bad run of nitro or something along those lines for that year, that specific guitar. like i said every one i have seen whether in person or online has that problem.
dunno if you watch trogly's guitar show but he has several episodes with gibson snow falcons where he talks about the finish issues and the used prices they were going for because of those issues about a year after they were made.
Interesting, I wasn't aware of the specific issues with the snow falcon.
Rockerverb 100 MKIII
Rockerverb 50 MKIII combo
AD30TC combo
TH30c
Fender Bassman
Fender Princeton
gibson explorer custom
gibson es355
gibson es359
gibson sg custom
gibson les paul custom
gibson les paul standard
gibson les paul studio
gibson melody maker

caldurham
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Posts: 292
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:48 pm

Re: NGD: Epiphone Snow Falcon

Post by caldurham » Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:08 pm

afjungemann wrote:
Thu Jul 18, 2019 4:01 pm

Interesting, I wasn't aware of the specific issues with the snow falcon.
i wish i would have gotten one anyways. you still can. but now because there were only 500 made their value is going up, finish issues or no. but ill settle for this epi snow falcon. it's a great guitar anyways. and i won't have to worry about the finish, other than my greasy fingerprints all over it.

but i am wanting to get a 2002 gibson crescent flying v or a 2012 gibson 7 string flying v. those are my unicorn guitars at the moment.

afjungemann
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Posts: 241
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:17 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: NGD: Epiphone Snow Falcon

Post by afjungemann » Sat Jul 20, 2019 12:43 am

Oh yes!!! I played a 7 string Gibson V a few years ago and while I am not a 7 string kind of guy, it was suuuuuuuper cool.
Rockerverb 100 MKIII
Rockerverb 50 MKIII combo
AD30TC combo
TH30c
Fender Bassman
Fender Princeton
gibson explorer custom
gibson es355
gibson es359
gibson sg custom
gibson les paul custom
gibson les paul standard
gibson les paul studio
gibson melody maker

caldurham
Rocker
Posts: 292
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:48 pm

Re: NGD: Epiphone Snow Falcon

Post by caldurham » Sun Jul 21, 2019 4:06 am

i have never played one of the 7 string gibsons. but i want one so bad. i almost sold a few of my guitars about 3 years ago to get one, but i didn't. and i am not much of a 7 string guy myself.

i type that though and yet i have 2 epiphone 7 string v's hanging on my wall. one was pretty beat up when i got it. and i got it very cheap. the other i got because it was almost mint.

the beat up one i am in the process of refinishing. i just have a little more sanding sealer to sand off before i start putting tru-oil on it.

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